I have struggled my entire life with my weight. From as far back as I can remember, I was never your average size person. I never realized that I was overweight until I got into Junior high school, and certain people did not hesitate to point out my flaws. Throughout my youth I wasn’t extremely overweight, chubby is the term I would use. Even after I got out of boot camp, when I was in the best shape of my life, I still held on to some stubborn weight around the midsection.

After I got out of the Navy, at 21 years old, is where my problems really began. I no longer had the mandatory exercise program. I also found that I really enjoyed good, fattening, unhealthy foods. Combine this with my love of beer and more recently my love of bourbon and my weight began to skyrocket.

I am a 6-foot-tall man, and I currently weigh in at about 265. This is not the heaviest I have been, nor is it the lightest. For the past 10 years or so, I have been on a roller coaster of weight. I go up and down, round and around. The lowest I have seen in recent years was 227 lbs. But the shocking highest I hit was 278 lbs. This hit me like a brick. Last year, after I stepped on the scale and it read 278, I looked in the mirror and realized that something has to drastically change.

I have known for quite some time that there are a lot of hereditary health issue that run in my family, and being overweight only exaggerates those issues. I realized that I am reaching middle age, and if I don’t so something soon, things could go wrong for me really quickly.

I made a mental pact that I would lose the weight this year, and keep it off. Being the typical procrastinator that I am, I got off to a really slow start. I bounced up and down a little bit the first couple of months, until one day I woke up and I really felt like shit. This was two weeks ago, and so far I am on the right track to get where I want to be by my 40^th birthday in November.

I thought I would share my story with everyone in hopes that it will encourage others to do what I am doing and get yourself into shape. My goal is to do this with the least amount of sacrifice. In the past I would go on crazy crash diets. I have tried multiple things, from extreme calorie deficit, to all juice, to low or no carb, low fat, etc… This time it is different. I have said it before, but I feel that it truly is going to be a whole different scenario this time.

I am not dieting. I am going to do something like I did back in 2013 when I got my weight down to 227 lbs. Only this time it will be slower, more meticulous. I have a created a plan and a goal that is measurable and attainable. I am going to share some of this plan with you, it will work for me, but it will take a lot of discipline.

Two week ago when I woke up feeling like shit, I decided to fast. I jumped headfirst into a water fast for 48 hours. I had not done any research on the subject, it just felt right. I came to find out, that I was right and wrong at the same time, but I educated myself on the subject, like I tend to do when there is something that I don’t know enough about.

This two-day water fast kick started my journey and opened my eyes to what I really need to do. I need to exercise at least 5 days a week, I need to eat healthier, I need to eat less food and I need to stop drinking alcohol every day. By themselves, these things are easy, but combined they will prove to be difficult. There is nothing more enjoyable in my life than eating good, tasty, and usually unhealthy food. Along with that, I love to eat to my heart’s content. And if you don’t know, I love alcohol of all kinds.

The most difficult part of this for me will be the lack of alcohol. I am not an alcoholic, I often go for days on end without a drink and don’t even think about it, especially on work nights. However, I love to tie one on over the weekends, or have a glass of wine with dinner or a few beers after work. These empty calories, along with the mass quantities of tasty, unhealthy food are the main reason I am overweight.

How you might ask, how do I plan to overcome this? Really it is quite simple…stop doing those things. That’s it. The drinking thing, I have that covered. I have enough willpower to keep myself from the constant drinking. The hard part is the occasional drinking. I made myself a deal that I will not touch a drop of alcohol until I lose at least 25 lbs. This is my first challenge, especially since I have a wine tasting trip to Walla Walla Washington planned for the end of June. So I basically have until then to drop the first 25 lbs.

This lack of alcohol will be the biggest factor in my weight loss journey, it has gotten the ball rolling and I have not had a drop in almost two weeks now. I have complete confidence in myself to keep this promise of not drinking, now that I have begun to combine this with the other steps, the challenge really begins.

Step two consists of calorie deficit. This is something I have become accustomed to over the years while riding this weight rollercoaster. Everyone knows, in order to lose weight, you must have more calories going out than you have coming in. 3500 calories equals one pound of fat. So in order to burn one pound of fat you must burn 3500 calories more than you take in. To accomplish this, you must do it at a rate that will not be too much of a deficit or too hard on your body. Otherwise you will suffer and rebound back to worse than where you started. A good goal it to shoot for is a 20% calorie deficit. And the most you should possibly shoot for and do it in a healthy way is 2 lbs per week or 7000 calorie deficit. This is what I am shooting for.

According to the professionals and a nifty online calculator I found, I need to take in no more than 2300 calories per day to lose 2 lbs per week. I have found this number to be false. The first time I tried this, I saw almost no result. This was still too many calories for me, so I reduced it. I dropped to 2000 calories per day and I saw a slight improvement, a little less than 1 lb per week average. So I went even one step further. I dropped to 1700 calories per day. This started doing the trick, especially when I added in 35-40 minutes per day, 5 days a week at the gym. Technically, this is a 50% reduction in calories according to those scientists, but I have put in the time and I know what works for me.

So now I am not drinking alcohol, I am on a calorie deficit trying to consume less than 2000 calories per day…closer to 1700 if possible. I am hitting the gym 5 days a week with minimal strength training and mostly light cardio. Which brings me to my final step in this endeavor…fasting!

Through my research, I have learned that fasting can have some very powerful effects on the human body. A simple 2 or 3-day water fast can and will have great results in not only weight loss but in my overall health. After my 48-hour crash water fast, I saw some minimal results in weight loss, but I did notice that besides the headache, I felt great. I learned that the headache is normal, but mine was excruciating. I never should have jumped right into a fast like that without preparing first. Part of my current plan is to perform a minimum of a 48-hour water fast once per month. This is not something to be taken lightly and it does require planning to be successful. However, it should be much easier now that I am alcohol free and eating better. If you would like to try a fast, I recommend doing so reading first. http://www.allaboutfasting.com/

I want to discuss something that I have not really touched on yet. Though my change in diet will now consist of healthier food, I will not sacrifice the things that I enjoy (except my alcohol intake), this is the key to my future success. For example, I allow myself a treat every day, usually in the form of a couple pieces of dark chocolate. I am finding foods that I enjoy eating and making healthier versions of those foods. When I do have a craving for one of my favorites, I eat it. As long as I maintain my calorie deficit I am still on track. The only real sacrifice I have made is giving up alcohol for the time being and forcing myself to go to the gym every day. Over time I will be able to indulge in my favorite alcohol in moderation and possibly cut my gym visits down to 3 times per week…but not until I am at a happy weight. The maintenance after weight loss is imperative. It is the reason I have failed so many times in the past. I know this now, and I plan to change that this time around.

I would also like to mention that the last time I did this, I killed it. I lost a total of 40 lbs over a 7-month period of time. I was feeling good, the results were obvious and people began to take notice. Here is where I went wrong and how I climbed back on that weight rollercoaster. I refused to keep up with the maintenance and fell back into my horrible ways. Even with minimal effort, I could have avoided this massive weight gain.

Last time, I started in the winter, after the holidays and like I said, I was killing it. As summer rolled around, I began brewing beer again, enjoying the barbeques and hanging out with family, eating drinking and being Mary (inside joke I know it is spelled merry). I was tracking my calories less and less and I practically stopped going to the gym. By then, the holidays rolled around again and I boy do I love all that good food, sweets and alcohol. I quickly began to regain the weight. Honestly, it took me just as long to gain it back as it did to lose. I knew it was happening, I felt terrible, and I noticed that the clothes were getting tighter again. I have climbed on and off the roller coaster sooooo many times since then, but recently I realized what it is going to take to keep me off that crazy weight rollercoaster.

Will power!! It is all a matter of will power…that’s it. I lost the weight last time out of sheer will. All I had to do was maintain that loss, but I got lazy. I told myself things like…it’s only a few pounds, I will hit the gym again next week. I was in denial, I enjoyed the food, the bourbon, the beer. I still do, and now I just need to balance my love for those things with my love for being able to walk up stairs without getting winded, or slipping on my shoes because it is too difficult to tie them.

Quite honestly, I would like to reach and maintain a weight of 200 lbs. This is a very difficult weight for me to reach, but it is possible. I will be satisfied if I can get below 225, but I will try to maintain my lifestyle to a point that I continue to work towards that ultimate goal of 200.

If anyone out there would like to join me on this journey, let me know. It is always easier to get in shape with the help and support of friends. I use some apps to help me track my weight, exercise and calorie intake, like MyFitnessPal and FitBit. I have found that I don’t really need the support to lose the weight, but I bet it would do better keeping it off with a little help from my limited number of friends!

The title pretty much says it all. Opinions are like Assholes, everyone has one and they all stink. Yeah even mine…I am sure there will be some people that read this Blog and think my opinion stinks. So stop reading it, unfriend me on Facebook, lose my phone number I really don’t care. I wonder if more people had an attitude like mine if the world would be a better place.

I get all fired up sometimes, especially when I read the mainstream news. Not so much the content of the news, I know it is mostly made up bullshit! But the comments people make on articles from these mainstream news outlets blow my mind. People are so narrow minded and set in their own ways of thinking. Most of these people think they are so smart and all of them think their opinion is right. Well, I am going to share my opinion on all of the hot topics of today. And of course like all these other assholes, I am right you are wrong. In the words of Daniel Tosh, I’m better than you, Na-na Na-na Boo-Boo stick your head in Doo-Doo.

Lets start with the list of hot topics from US News and World Report.

1. Immigration: This country was built by immigrants. Each and every one of us (unless you are 100% Native American) are descendants of immigrants. People who came to this country seeking a better way of life. I don’t think anyone has any issue with immigration. What people don’t seem to understand is that MOST of us do have an issue with Illegal Immigration. Why is it so difficult for this country to come up with a simple cost effective way for people to come to this country legally? It is quite simple really. Fill out a form, pay a small processing fee and get a temporary citizenship I.D. Over the next two years you will be looked in on to make sure you are becoming a productive member of our society. Working, paying taxes, learning to speak English and obeying laws. If you violate these laws, stop paying taxes or fail to meet these requirements, swift justice, we will load you on a bus, boat or plane and ship your ass back where you came from…you can apply again after 1 year. If you are removed from the country more than once, we place a micro chip somewhere under your skin and track your ass to ensure you never return here again!!
2. Same Sex Marriage: Why is this such a big damn deal. I don’t care if someone want to marry their boyfriend, sister, cousin, dog, hamster. WHO CARES!!!! That is all I have to say about that…it is a STUPID TOPIC!!
3. Education: Here we go. Our education system is BROKEN. From Kindergarten through Graduate School. You can read more about my opinion on education in my blog post Life Skills. Basically we are going about education all wrong, hence the reason there are 5.6 million trade jobs in the U.S. that we are unable to fill. We are teaching kids how to take tests in grade school, forcing kids to go to college and charging them a fortune for it. Most people are not built for this type of system. We cant and should not be telling kids that the only way to live a successful life is by going to college…it is just not TRUE!!
4. Gun Control: If any of you have read any of my Blogs, you know I am very passionate about this subject. Guns have been and always will be a part of society, every society. They will change, get more powerful, get smarter and more complex. Anyone who thinks that World Peace is ever possible has not been paying attention. There will always be some form of violence and war. It is millions of years in the making, deeply embedded in Human DNA. Violence is not going to end, no matter how many laws you pass, criminals will still have guns. Laws do not prevent crime, they are put in place as a deterrent and to have some form of written documentation on how to punish people who break them. You can write all the laws you want in an attempt to control guns and who has them, but you will only prevent law abiding people from obtaining them. If you want more of my opinion on Gun Control go HERE!
5.   Taxes and the Economy: This shit has gotten out of hand. The bigger the government gets the more the people get taxed. Did you know in the last 7 years under the direction of this government our National Debt has gone up 10 Trillion dollars?? It has Doubled in just 7 years. That is insane!!!! Government spending is out of control. Taxation is out of control. The top 20% of earners in this country pay nearly 84% of all taxes and the bottom 60% of earners pay only 2%. Can you say LOPSIDED. Progressives want the top 20% to pay more. How is that even possible? They want the top 20% to pay more so they can give more to the bottom 60%. It is common sense to know that is not right. People have become so dependent on the government that soon this bubble is going to burst, and shit is really going to get bad. Social Welfare is not the answer. Printing money is not the answer. We are too far in over our heads, I just hope I die before the levee breaks. I feel sorry for my kids and their future.
6. Health Care: Here is yet another joke that is not so funny. Instead of reforming the health care system our brilliant government decided a better idea is to subsidize Health Insurance and force people to buy it. The health care system is like a giant pyramid scheme. Becoming a doctor cost a fortune and takes a lot of time. Hence doctors need to make  more money to compensate for this. Advanced medical equipment is expensive, so the cost of health care is expensive. Doctors get sued when they make a mistake, so they need to have even more Insurance, cost go up even more! I have an idea, how about a non-profit health care system? The hell you say, you mean only charge people what it actually cost to receive care?? Are you out of your Vulcan Mind?? Unfortunately, we are so far past the ability to do this. You cant trust the government to do it…look how well they have done so far. Human kindness is the only way this could ever work. It would take people to start non profit hospitals, good doctors to take a reasonable salary and good humans not to bring litigation against the very people that are helping them when they make a mistake. Human nature will never allow this to happen, people are too stupid and greedy!
7.  Climate Change: This is the biggest money making scam of the 20th century, and will be even bigger in the 21st century. I do not doubt that humans are causing pollution, that is common sense. But I will tell you this…if someone found 100% definitive proof that Climate Change is a natural occurrence, that person would get buried in a deep dark hole and never heard from again. Global Warming/Climate Change is a multi-billion dollar per year THEORY. Creating thousands of government and private sector jobs. Of course alternative energy sources are wonderful and they should be studied and implemented when and where they are cost effective. Luckily for us our government is involved so there is no way anything cost effective will happen now. Did you know that the budget for the Department of Energy will be almost $30 Billion for 2016…how much of that money will actually be used to save energy? NONE!!! I have an idea, lets take that $30 Billion per year and physically install green energy technology around the country instead of just spending it on research. Let the private companies spend their money on R&D and actually put our tax dollars to work. If our government would buy the products from these companies with that money instead of subsidizing their research we would all be better off.
8. Foreign Policy: This is a losing battle, we keep trying to bring World Peace by being the World Police…good luck with that. This country does not need a foreign policy…We are going off the grid!! We have all the natural resources we need in this country, Mexico and Canada. We do not need to play big brother all around the world. We should concern ourselves with Defense and stop playing Offence. This of course will never happen, America is the life blood of the world economy. If it were up to me I would integrate Mexico into the United States, continue relations with Canada and we are all set. We don’t need Chinese crap. We don’t need to import anything outside Mexico and Canada. If we cant make it in our country, we don’t need it. We have the technology, the ability and the workforce to get it done. Let the rest of the world fend for themselves for a while.
9. Marijuana Legalization: I added this one because it is a hot topic, and a really stupid one. Let me see…there is this plant that grows from the ground that when ingested or smoked causes mind altering effects…SO…lets outlaw it. WTF!!! Drug companies can make artificial substances that do this and we call them medicine and they kill thousands every year, legal. Tobacco kills hundreds of thousands of people every year, legal. Alcohol has to be manufactured and kills thousands every year, legal. But this PLANT is illegal. This is just another example of how stupid and wasteful our government is.

Well these are my opinions, they stink, I know. But they are mine and I am right. If you don’t like it, I don’t care!

Dick

Well I am back…It has been a while since I decided to get all wound up about something. This time it happens to be all the people discussing minimum wage, especially here in little old Idaho.

I would like to start with some information and statistics from where I live, Idaho. Many of you may know that Idaho is a low wage paying state, but it is also a low cost of living state. As a matter of fact, Idaho was ranked the 3rd lowest cost of living state in the U.S. for 2015. Combine that with our low unemployment rate and conservative government, Idaho is a great state to live in.

You wouldn’t think this to be true by talking to a lot of Native Idahoans. Many of these individuals that have lived exclusively in Idaho their entire lives are under the impression that it is NOT a cheap place to live. I can attest to the fact having traveled to and lived in other states that Idaho is by far an inexpensive state to call home.

Lets take for example a similar size city in California and compare it to a city in Idaho. Modesto, CA has about the same population as Boise, ID. In Modesto, here is an example of how much more life would cost you compared to Boise. Groceries 18% more, Housing 45% more, Utilities 32% more, Transportation 10% more. So on average it cost 26.25% more to live in a similar size city.

In Modesto the minimum wage is the same as the State of CA minimum wage $10.00 per hour. In Boise the minimum wage is the Federal $7.25 per hour. That means in Modesto, minimum wage workers make 27.5% more per hour than in Boise. So as you can see the minimum wage in Boise goes just as far as the minimum wage in Modesto…pretty close right.

OK, lets assume that the Federal government raises the minimum wage to $10.00 per hour. Great right? The people in Boise now have extra money to spend. Not so fast…a raise in the minimum wage will cause inflation in Boise. Prices of goods and services will go up…It is hard to say by how much, but I will look at that in a minute. Now lets look at Modesto, they didn’t get an increase in minimum wage because they are already at the $10.00 per hour mark. So did this increase in the Federal mandate help those people? NOPE!! In fact, it added more people to the Federal minimum wage level!!

OK, lets look at another statistic. In 2014 the state of Idaho had approximately 412,000 workers that were paid on an hourly basis. of that 420K only 21,000 were paid at or below minimum wage (about 5.1%) In 2014 Idaho employed around 628,000 people. That means only 3.3% of all employed Idahoans were paid at or below minimum wage. The national average of minimum wage workers ages 16-24 years old is 31.9%. That means if we use that average for Idaho, approximately 6700 of those 21,000 minimum wage workers were 24 years old or younger…the majority are 16-19 year old around 15%.

To be fair, lets say the Federal government raised the minimum wage to $10.00/hr. That means in Idaho at least 21,000 of the 628,000 workers will get a pay increase. Lets assume that another 5% were making over the minimum wage but below $10/hr. That would give us 41,000 people who would get a pay increase. That is 6.5% of the working population in Idaho. Those are generous numbers in my opinion, since the median wage in Idaho is $14.93 per hour. But that’s okay, I am a generous guy! 😉

Now you are probably thinking how much of an effect could this possibly have on the economy in Idaho. Well let us take a look. On average 57% of minimum wage workers are employed in the Leisure and Hospitality industry. That means hotels, restaurants, transportation, recreation, tourism, and entertainment. The cost of goods and services at all of these places will definitely increase to cover the cost of paying employees.

This means that 93.5% of the workers in Idaho just took a pay cut. What you talkin’ bout Willis? A Pay CUT?? Put it this way, if the cost of goods and services go up, but your pay does not, that is the same as taking a pay cut. Lets say that the cost of living goes up to match the increase in the minimum wage increase 27.5%. All those people that thought they benefited from the wage increase actually broke even, and the other 93.5% of people are making less money every year because of the increased cost of goods and services.

That’s Idaho, how will this effect other states? Well I am glad you asked! Lets look at California. This lovely little Progressive state already has a Minimum wage of $10.00 per hour, so most people in that state will not benefit from a Federal increase at all. In fact, the federal numbers are skewed because California already pays above the Federal minimum, so it is hard to determine how many more people in CA would be working at or below Federal standards, but I would venture to guess it will be in the 10’s of thousands.

Currently 21 states follow the Federal minimum wage guideline. Most of those 21 states also boast the lowest cost of living. Basically a Federal minimum wage increase will have a drastic effect on these 21 states. Increasing their cost of living, causing inflation etc…So what is the right minimum wage amount………..$0.00………..That’s right folks, none. there is no need for a Federal or even a State mandated minimum wage!! Here is a little video to help you understand…Minimum Wage

Because I am such a nice guy, and I like to give credit where credit is due. I have attached the document from 2014 where I got a lot of these numbers for your review. I suggest spending some time looking through it, one of my favorite parts is the section that shows minimum wage workers by education. Note that workers that attend an Occupational program or work in a trade are less likely to get paid minimum wage than those that get an Associates or Bachelors degree. 1.7 percent of people that went through Occupational programs make minimum wage compared to 2.2% with an Associates degree and 1.9% with a Bachelors degree. I wonder if that has anything to do with our society forcing kids to go to college and steering them away from the Trades…well I think I already covered that topic in my Blog under Life Skills.

Until next time…

Dick

I have heard this many times before. I have posted the Audio of it on Social Media, but today I read the words. I read them and I let them sink deep into my soul. I have seen too many negative things said about our countries Law Enforcement Officers over the past year and it absolutely disgust me. Before I get to deep into it, please read these words…think about them…understand them and try to imagine yourself walking in the shoes of a police officer for just one day. Hopefully I can get through to some with this posting, I doubt it. Most of the people that read my blog already feel the same way as I do. On the off chance that this gets spread far and wide and reaches the masses, and I pray it does…maybe, just maybe I can make someone think and understand what it means. If I can open just one persons mind with this blog post, my mission will be complete.

A Policeman is a composite of what all men are, mingling of a saint and sinner, dust and deity.

Gulled statistics wave the fan over the stinkers, underscore instances of dishonesty and brutality because they are “new”. What they really mean is that they are exceptional, unusual, not commonplace.

Buried under the frost is the fact: Less than one-half of one percent of policemen misfit the uniform. That’s a better average than you’d find among clergy!

What is a policeman made of? He, of all men, is once the most needed and the most unwanted. He’s a strangely nameless creature who is “sir” to his face and “fuzz” to his back

He must be such a diplomat that he can settle differences between individuals so that each will think he won.

But…If the policeman is neat, he’s conceited; if he’s careless, he’s a bum. If he’s pleasant, he’s flirting;if not, he’s a grouch.

He must make an instant decision which would require months for a lawyer to make.

But…If he hurries, he’s careless; if he’s deliberate, he’s lazy. He must be first to an accident and infallible with his diagnosis. He must be able to start breathing, stop bleeding, tie splints and, above all, be sure the victim goes home without a limp. Or expect to be sued.

The police officer must know every gun, draw on the run, and hit where it doesn’t hurt.He must be able to whip two men twice his size and half his age without damaging his uniform and without being “brutal”. If you hit him, he’s a coward. If he hits you, he’s a bully.

A policeman must know everything-and not tell. He must know where all the sin is and not partake.

A policeman must, from a single strand of hair, be able to describe the crime, the weapon and the criminal- and tell you where the criminal is hiding.

But…If he catches the criminal, he’s lucky; if he doesn’t, he’s a dunce. If he gets promoted, he has political pull; if he doesn’t, he’s a dullard. The policeman must chase a bum lead to a dead-end, stake out ten nights to tag one witness who saw it happen-but refused to remember.

The policeman must be a minister, a social worker, a diplomat, a tough guy and a gentleman.

And, of course, he’d have to be genius….For he will have to feed a family on a policeman’s salary.

I am not a police officer, nor have I ever been or will I ever be. I do not have the patience or the civility to deal with this many people on a daily basis. I was raised in a Police Family. My Father spent most of his working years as a police officer dealing with these very issues that Paul Harvey describes every day. I know this, I have see it first hand. I could see the struggle in his face when I was young. Until I grew older and started a family of my own, I didn’t really know what that was. The look on his face after a long shift. Why he was so eager to get to bed or fall asleep when he came home from work. What did this man have to do on a daily basis that made him so stressed and tired all the time. But somehow he did it. Somehow he raised 5 children on that Police Officers Salary. Somehow he found time to coach my Baseball team. Somehow he found time to teach my siblings and I the difference between wrong and right. Somehow he found time to be there for us as a Father, a Husband, and a Police Officer.

Being a Police Officer all those years almost killed him. Not just on the job…but because of the job. The criminals and their hatred for police is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to close encounters with death. It is the aftermath from the everyday dealings with crime, what it does to a person mentally and physically. How the stress alone is enough to kill the average man. I didn’t realize that every night I went to sleep that one morning he just might not come home. These are the things you don’t know or want to know as a kid. Somehow he kept that danger from us, that knowledge that what he really did every day was so dangerous that he may not return home at night. I had no idea that at any point in my childhood that my father looked danger straight in the face every day, but still returned home to his family and tried to put those dealings and experiences way back in his mind and not share that grief or stress with us.

I cant imagine what these men and women go through on a daily basis. Yet I hear people bashing police, badmouthing them because of the encounters they have had. I have not had very many encounters with police officers in my everyday life, yet somehow all of the encounters I have had were civil, courteous and polite. I think to myself and wonder sometimes why is this? Why have I not had any of these bad encounters with Law enforcement Officers that so many people describe? I realize it is due to one thing…I try not to break the law, and so far in life I have done a pretty good job of obeying the laws of our country. And the times I did have encounters with police officers, I either knew I was breaking the law already or I was unaware of the law that I was breaking. In both instances I have acted accordingly. I was open & honest, courteous, and I complied with requests and lawful commands. Even in the times where the police officer was not in a good mood or appeared agitated or upset. Even in times where I didn’t think I was breaking the law and I found out after the fact. Following these basic ideas has made every encounter with the Police very uneventful.

Take a step back for a moment and think about it. These men and women have the most dangerous job in our country. They barely make a livable wage, they care about our society and keeping the peace and upholding the law. Like Paul Harvey said, “Less than one-half of one percent of policemen misfit the uniform. That’s a better average than you’d find among clergy!” These men and women have a thankless job. They want to do their job and return home every night to their families and live a life in a safe community. Is it too much for us to ask as a society to obey the laws, respect the officers and comply with their commands. If you think you are right and they are wrong, that’s great.  Get a lawyer and take it up in court. Don’t fight with the person trying to uphold the law, we have a whole other legal system designed for fighting. I can tell you this, you are much less likely to get Shot, Tasered, Beaten or Battered by a police officer if you do two simple things. 1. Obey the law. 2. Do as they say and take your argument up in court not on the street.

For those of you that are angered by bad experience with Law Enforcement, or are angry because someone you know has had bad experiences. Stop, think and read the words of Paul Harvey I posted here. Police Officers are people too. They are only human. Humans make mistakes. Don’t hold a grudge against all of them because of your bad experience with one or a few. Hating all police officers because you had a bad experience with one makes you a Bigot…. Definition: A person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially: one who regards or treats the members of a group with hatred and intolerance. I have met a lot of police officers in my life time, I did not like all of them, I absolutely hated some of them, and I loved some of them. I refuse to define an entire group of people based on the actions of a few. If the people of this world could bring themselves to this way of thinking, we truly would be that much closer to peace on earth!

Every time I turn on the news, open a news paper, pull up news online or even open up Facebook, I become more and more disgusted with people. I am deeply disgusted with our society. I watch videos, read the news headlines…and most of the time I can barely force myself to read the articles for fear of being sick.

Here it is, the most recent event that people are talking about.  Two days ago, two young reporters were shot and killed on national TV, all while being recorded by the cowardly shooter. It has been reported that this was a racial killing. The shooter was a black man that killed two white people just because they were white, and he was pissed off. The first statement and response from the White House on this matter was the fact that our country lacks gun control. If we had better gun control, none of this would have happened. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoRX_vciguA. Two days later the president has yet to formally step forward with a statement about the incident. In a more recent event of a shooting in a Black church in the name of racism and hate, the President addressed the nation in person along side the vice president the morning after the tragedy took place. He begins to talk about the history of the church and of its black ancestors shortly before jumping into the Gun Control Speech. And slowly rolls back into the issue of racist killings. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9oem60eU6M.

What is really pissing me off is the politics of this mess. Two white people are killed in the name of hate and racism, and the President sends his spokesperson out to discuss the issue of gun control, not a single mention of Race hatred. But when black people are killed by a white man in the name of racism and hate, the first thing brought to light is the racism and hate, and then the gun control. The bigger issue that nobody appears to be noticing is this. No amount of gun control would have prevented either of these two crimes…NONE!! Banning and confiscating all guns in the entire country would not have stopped these hate crimes. This country has porous borders, guns, drugs and people pour through our border undetected every day. People try to compare our so called gun problem to the UK or Australia, neither of which have the same scenario of porous borders surrounding them.

The real problem…The corporate owned liberal media and the corporate owned government. The lies, deception, fear and hate that they spew into our country and the minds of our people. They are creating problems that should not exist to satisfy their own agendas!

I have traveled around a majority of the United States, liberal states, conservative states, southern states you name it, I have been to most of them. In all of my travels and the people that I have worked with of every race, color and origin…I have met very few truly racist people. When I say truly racist people, I mean hatefully racist…like burn a cross on your lawn racist…call a black person a nigger to their face racist. These types of people are few and far between…in a country of 320 million people I would say these people make up less than 1 percent. I have also met marginally racist people, and when I say marginally racist, I mean those people that have some form of racial bigotry. You know the type, the white lady that locks her car door when she sees a black man coming down the street. Or the black guy who makes fun of the white businessman in his nice suit, just because he is white. These people are not generally racist, but have some form of bad feelings towards people who are different than they are.

Then you have people like myself. I am not a racist person…but I do judge people. I judge them based on their actions, the way they carry themselves, the way they speak to and treat other people. My racism is against all races and all colors. Like my Father always said, “I hate everyone equally”. Let me give you an example. I see a dirty, tattooed white male walking towards me on the street. The first thought that runs through my mind is, steer clear of this low life dirt bag, what a waste of human flesh this guy is. I don’t know this man from Adam, he could be the nicest most harmless person on the planet, but I still have that first thought. Example #2. I see a gang-banger looking black male, pants hanging down, hat on all crooked, walking like he got hit by a bus with that pimp limp…the thought runs through my mind…steer clear of this stupid thug, he is just out looking for trouble!

Now in both scenarios, my first thought was to steer clear of both of these men, even though I have no idea who they are or what they stand for. I called them names in my head just because of their appearance. One man White, the other Black…but I had the same preconceived notion about both men. WHY? Body language, the way they dressed and carried them selves…it has nothing to do with the color of their skin. If those same two men were walking towards me on the street wearing decent clothing, walking in a normal fashion, looked clean cut and their body language did not exude THREAT, my thought process would have been totally different. Race is not an issue for me, skin color is not an issue. Most Americans feel this same way. We see color, but we don’t hate because of it. Most people don’t look a someone of a different color and immediately have thoughts of hatred just because they are a different color. Most people do have some form of fear mechanism that can be triggered by another persons body language and appearance. And many times that fear is construed as hatred or racism, when it simply is not.

No matter where you are born, how you are raised, the color of your skin, or how much money Mommy and Daddy have…every American has opportunities available to them…We all have the ability to change the outcome of our own lives. The richer you are the easier it is, the poorer you are the harder you have to work. We get out of life what we put into it. If you live with a mind set that someone always owes you something, you will never become successful. If you live in the mindset that you will be held back because of the color of your skin, you will not make it very far in life. If you go through every day thinking about racism and hatred towards you, it will consume your life. I know for a fact there is a large number of people that hate white people. I don’t ever think about it, I certainly don’t let it consume me, nor do I care. If someone wants to hate me because of the color of my skin…I DON’T CARE!! I am a bigger person than that, I don’t even consider in my mind that it exists. Morgan Freeman hits the nail on the head with this one.

Why is racial tension at an all time high in our country right now? It is simple, the media has a mantra, If it bleeds it leads. They have created this tension in order to get people to watch the news. People watch the news and the corporations make money from advertising. The corporations need things like race riots & mass shootings to get viewers to watch the news so they can sell their products, make more money, and put fear into Americans. The corporations and the government want you to be afraid, it serves their purpose and their agenda of obtaining complete power over you. How is the government involved you ask? It is simple, the corporations own the government, they buy and sell politicians to support their agendas to make more money, and to keep you afraid. Reporting on the recent race riots and killings they have created fear. Fear is a very powerful thing. These rare so called racial murders and mass shootings that happen further push their agenda… Create racial tension and fear, glorify mass killings. Push gun control, convince americans we have a gun problem in our country. Slowly remove gun rights and eventually remove the guns from the citizens. Once they have removed the guns they have complete control of the people. With complete control of the people the government can do whatever it wants, whenever it wants, however it wants…and we have no power to stop them!!! All of this recent media coverage of racial hatred and mass shootings, is just another attempt to grab up all of the guns from the American people and remove our only defense from a tyrannical government. And guess what America…you are buying into it, hook, line and sinker!

Here are a few facts for you skeptics out there. Here is a chart of Homicide data from the FBI in 2013 FBI Crime Stats. Notice the White on black murder rate. Of the 2491 Black homicides victims the number of White offenders was 189. Most of the black homicides were black on black killings…2245. Now look at the Black on White Statistic. Of the 3005 White homicide victims, 409 of them were killed by a black person. So what does that tell us…13.6% of the Whites were killed by Black people..but only 7.5% of Blacks were killed by whites. How about Police homicides by race. Police Homicides by Race of the 385 homicide by police officers so far in 2015…46.7% were White deaths, 28.7% were Black deaths. Now lets look at the gun control issue, I have shown this data before. Gun Murders. The government wants to ban certain rifles (must be because they look scary) and make it harder for law abiding citizens to obtain any gun. Well of the 12,253 total homicides in 2013, 67% were committed with a firearm. But only 3.7% were committed with a rifle…so why the attack on scary rifles? Handguns were used 72% of the time!!

Here is some more data on death vs. gun crimes in America. In 2013 there were roughly 320 million Americans. That year there were 12,253 total murders in America. That means 0.0038% of Americans were murdered in 2013. There were 2,596,993 deaths in America in 2013. Of those death 0.4% of them were murders, 0.3% of them died by the hands of another using a firearm. Yet of the 2.6 million deaths in America that year, 35,369 were caused by automobiles. 1.3% of all the deaths in America in 2013 were caused by automobiles. Lets put this into perspective…there are an estimated 253 million cars and trucks on U.S. roads. The Congressional Research Service put the number of civilian firearms ownership in the United States at 310 million.  So there is an estimated 53 million more guns in America than there are cars and trucks, but somehow they cause less death. Let’s even add in the suicide issue, for all of those people out there that think death by suicide using a gun has some bearing (in my opinion it does not). In 2013 it is estimated that 32,383 people died in America by the use of a gun. That is still a lower number than all of the automobile deaths…but hey since we are adding suicides into that, I would like to see the number of suicides using the vehicle as the weapon. Nobody is tracking how many people ran a hose from their tailpipe to suffocate to death, I bet that automobile death toll is even higher. Why are we not pushing for tighter Vehicle Control laws!! Why not more in depth Background checks for a drivers license. You can drive a car at the age of 15 in Idaho, but you cant buy a gun until you are 18. Somehow, more people are dying from automobiles than they are guns. Where is Moms Demand Action on this front…they should be picketing in front of the DMV!!

We don’t have a racial hatred issue in America, we don’t have a gun control issue in America, we have a Government Control issue in America. The Corporate Owned Government wants to be in complete control. It has happened over and over in the past 100+ years. Turkey in 1911, The Soviet Union in 1929, China in 1935, Germany in 1938, Cambodia in 1956, Guatemala in 1964, Uganda in 1970, Rwanda in 1994. In everyone of these events in history, the government disarmed its people. The total numbers of victims who lost their lives because of gun control is approximately 70 million people in the 20th century. Our founding fathers were smart men, and they realized this potential of a tyrannical government when they wrote our constitution. The only reason to spread this fear and hate is to gain power and control over the people. I think I have clearly shown that Guns in America are not the problem, Racism in America is not the problem…The Government Agenda is the problem!! What better way to remove the guns from the American hands than to create racial tension, turn the races against each other, to the point they start killing each other with guns…and make guns the problem!!

It is not about race, or gender, or religion…We are Americans. Living in The land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. We all need to stop buying into the media…stop listening to their hate and propaganda. Stop letting the news stories about a white cop killing a so called innocent black man get under your skin. Stop letting the new media get into your head that we have gun control issues, when we clearly don’t. Use your voting power to limit the government. Demand term limits in congress. Big government is BAD!! Stop pushing your hateful agendas on other people and live like a HUMAN BEING. Act with love, respect and kindness and treat people the way they deserve to be treated based on their actions. Stop getting all of your information in life from the major news outlets…read blogs, use the internet to do your own research on topics. And for crying out loud…Stop being so quick to pull the race card, just because someone does not like you or disagrees with you does not make them a racist. The color of your skin does not matter, unless you let it matter!!

Take it from the master of his craft, Adolph Hitler. After the rise of the Nazi’s, Germany established their version of gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, 13 million Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, the mentally ill, and others, who were unable to defend themselves against the “Brown Shirts”, were arrested and exterminated. Create Hatred and Fear. Take away the freedoms of the people little by little. Remove their only form of self defense, and relinquish complete control to a Tyrannical Dictator. Remember America fought against this monster and won. We can do it again, but our government is already creating the next Adolph Hitler. They are slowly taking away your freedoms little by little, and they are pressuring us to willingly remove our only form of self defense under the guise of racism and hate. Are you willing to let that happen??

Dick